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Monday, October 05, 2009

Arsenal’s squad as good as Barcelona’s?


By Hamzi Mohd

Arsenal’s style of play has often been compared to Barcelona’s. Both teams play open attacking football relying on the high technique and skill of their players, the quick pass and continuous movement.

Another comparison this year is that both teams seem to play a 4 3 3 type of formation and it is interesting therefore to compare the them, player for player.

Below are suggested line ups of the two teams. Others may disagree with me as to the Arsenal line up (Walcott and Rosicky for example may get into the first 11 in other people’s assessment).

I only set out these 11 below in order to facilitate my point. The actual line up is, in some ways, immaterial as I believe that Arsenal has more strength in depth than Barcelona.

Barcelona:

Valdes
Alves Puyol Pique Maxwell
Xavi Toure Iniesta
Messi Ibrahimovic Henry

Subs: Marquez, Keita, Pedro, Pinto, Chygrynskiy, Bojan, Abidal, Busquets, Milito, Suarez

Arsenal:

Almunia
Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Clichy
Fabregas Song Nasri
Eduardo v Persie Arshavin

Subs: Fabianski (Mannone), Eboue, Djourou, Senderos, Gibbs, Diaby, Denilson, Walcott, Bendtner, Vela, Rosicky

A comparison of the first 11 line ups on a player to player basis shows that Arsenal actually could match Barcelona.

It is true that the Barcelona squad has proven world class players who can make a difference whenever needed.

Messi is one of the best in the world, Henry we all know what he can do and Ibrahimovic is a very good striker.

Iniesta and Xavi are both classy playmakers and both their fullbacks are very good going forward.

But we have Arshavin who in my opinion can match Messi’s brilliance.



Van Persie himself is at least as good as Ibrahimovic. Fabregas and Nasri (or Rosicky) can certainly match Iniesta and Xavi.

Song too is almost as good as Toure and will soon be even better. Clichy and Sagna are better than Alves and Maxwell.

When the squad issue is addressed, I believe that Arsenal has more depth than Barcelona’s.

Barcelona doesn’t have that many options if a few key players are out injured or suspended.

They only have Pedro, Suarez and Bojan in the attacking positions. Iniesta can play wide but he is really best in the middle alongside Xavi.

Arsenal however has the luxury of Walcott, Bendtner, Vela, Eduardo, Rosicky, Nasri and Eboue who can all play wide. Although Barcelona has better cover in defence ours is not that bad either.

So by this logic, no wonder Wenger is so optimistic about this current group of Arsenal players.

I just hope they could deliver this season and we, as Arsenal fans, should believe in them and give the team our full support.




128 comments:

Anonymous said...

haahaahaa, sagna is better than alves ? are you joking ?

Anonymous said...

Embarrassing post.

Nasri as good as Iniesta?

Behave.

Anonymous said...

Ridiculous article!!!!

Anonymous said...

I think your blogging days are numbered.

Please cease writing crap like this with immediate effect.

Anonymous said...

I hate the amount of negative people talking about our squad but I think you are way too optimistic.

Currently we are pretty close and in the future, if the squad stays together, we might be as good if not better... but not right now.

But to be fair, you did say "squad" which includes reserves/bench, in this case we might be more complete than Barca but first XI Barca is better.

Anonymous said...

one word CRAP and this comes form a gunner

Ole Gunner said...

Our first 11 doesn't match Barcelona's but our squad does.

Look really closely and Barcelona dont have much strength beyond the first 11.

Anonymous said...

We play a little different to Barca, gunners focus more on stamina,0ff-ball running and speed. Barca more control and carefully pass,even need more personal skill. Anyway,both team all play quality football.

Anonymous said...

this post in one word - CRAP.

and this comes form a gunner

Marco said...

tough crowd....

fi said...

very funny man. im entertained. good job. wait..... did you just say song is as good as yaya and eduardo is as good as henry??
oh maybe not. maybe i misheard.

Unknown said...

People are sheep.

Because we havent won anything they think we have inferior players.

But it has always been a question of formation.

With the right formation, we have the best players in Europe.

When we win something at the end of this year, people will come around to the same conclusion.

The difference between Arsenal and Barca, is Barca have more characters with experience like Puyol and Xavi. And they dont have to face Bolton and Stoke away from home.

Great post btw.

Anonymous said...

Somebody is embarrassed by the assertion that"Nasri as good as Iniesta" and I am embarrassed by the comparison because Nasri is much better than Iniesta. I agree with this article in that we have a squad as good as Barcelona. For me Barcelona players are average players if you take out Messi, Ibra and Henry. I rate Messi better than Arshavin, who's world class player. Van Persie fit in a fit Arsenal players will make difference, and I rate him as Ibra. Also i think we have better squad than them.

Anonymous said...

I'LL HAVE WHAT EVA YOU ARE SMOKING ,THOUGH I LOVE YOUR OPTIMISM,I THINK IF YOU SHOUT LOUD ENUFF ,THE MEN IN WHITE MAY COME TO TAKE YOU AWAY

Anonymous said...

responding to the first anonymous. yes Sagna is better than Alves who cost £24m but cant get into the brazil first 11 and defensively he is poor

Unknown said...

dude, i think it fair to say u got a little carried away: Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Ibrahimovitch, Henry and our attack is our strength....

Anonymous said...

I can understand your optimism in creating this post and I for one do not think it is CRAP like some of our fellow Gooners. We have an extremely talented squad, a squad burgeoning with riches, however, we are unproven and that makes a huge difference.

In Xavi & Inestia they have two of the world's best, in Messi and absolute genius and in Henry & Imbrhamovic, two highly skilled and powerful attcking frontmen. In Alves a great attcking full back. An Puyol a massive personlaity and leader of men. They have more power, pace, experience and a variety of proven players.

However, if our lot were to win something big this season, our view of our own players might take on a more glowing assessment and a palpable comparison with a GREAT Barca team.

We have a wealth of talent but they have to become champions first to really prove how good they are as a TEAM and as such their individual stock will cumulatively rise in meterioc fashion.

Anonymous said...

So Barca are average if you remove three of their players? LOOOLLLLL!

Why stop there? Let's just remove their entire first eleven.

Arshavin isn't as good Messi?

Nasri is no where near Iniesta.

Rosicky without injuries could have been near Iniesta - he's got the class but at the moment no.

Our strength in depth is about the same, we've got bette depth in some areas and they have better depth in others.

I would fancy our first eleven to give them a serious game but they're better. No shame there.

Anonymous said...

The only players from our squad that would get in their first 11 would be Gallas and/or Vermaelen, arguably Clichy, maybe Cesc, and Arshavin (for Thierry, sadly).

There are some positions in which our backup is better (GK, RB, CM, FW) but their backup CBs are far better than ours.

Pretty stupid article really, very biased.

Anonymous said...

We beat blackburn 6-2 at home and we are the best team in the world, next weekend we will forget about the football fundamentals and draw.

We havent won the EPL, champoions leagues or anything so let leave the hype for other teams and supporters.

TD said...

Let's not get ahead of ourselves lol. Love the optimism though.

Anonymous said...

Well Barca have been there, done that ,our squad is still raw,still unproven so until we win CL or beat Barca in a football match,the comparison holds no water,and any way the truth is on the pitch,let`s wait until may to find out how good the team is.

Anonymous said...

i agree ..

and with one more point to add..we are younger and getting better and better,,

barca is nothing else than heroin addicted whore...what a disgraceful *club* ?

no honor..no pride whatsoever...

and im happy to say they are on a fasty track to ruin..

If FIFA would install they new rules on the economic side...plaese tell me where would the whore barca be...

Yes bankrupt..and just a minority in european football..and soon they will be just that..a feckin joke of a club..

Best Regards tom

heyrube said...

KEEP DREAMING!!! This post is the farthest thing from the truth I've ever read. No offence to arsenal but you have to be kidding me if you think this is true.

Erichero said...

I don't think you're far off the mark:

RVP v Ibrahamovic - equal
Cesc v Xavi - equal
Iniesta v Nasri - Iniesta
Toure v Song - Toure
Arshavin v Henry - Arshavin
Messi v Eduardo - Messi
Alves v Sagna - equal
Clichy v Maxwell - Clichy
Puyol v Vermaelen - equal
Gallas v Pique - Gallas
Valdes v Almunia - Valdes

Not bad. What's critical though is that most of the Arsenal players are still improving, so Song for instance can overtake Toure and Nasri can overtake Iniesta.

Shows how pessimistic the Gooner crowd really are - they've responded to one or two comparisons and spat out vulgar language, quite pathetic really. It is true that Barcelona have a team knit and confidence that Arsenal have yet to develop, and they do play in an inferior league.

Anonymous said...

The number of so-called Arsenal fans who crap on "their" team is a disgrace Some people should watch some Liga games not just the goals to understand that after the top 2 and a couple of other teams the rest is so rubbish they would all fight to avoide relegation in the premiership.

None of the back 5 is significantly better than us and in most case demonstrably inferior.
Toure, Iniesta and Xabi are at the top of their careers, our corresponding players are all starting theirs (or retarting for Rosicki) and despite being 21-22 they are all not far off.
As for their attack, Henry is on the wane and Ibra disappears as soon as there's some pressure. Their only player that is better than any of ours is Messi.

You're not so far off in your analysis. It could even happen this season if we meet them late enough for our team to progress and gel further.

Anonymous said...

I trully can understand how one would feel optimistic about his team but this is way too much...

In a few words.... if Wenger had xavi, Iniesta, Yaya, Alves and Zlatan (like you said Van Persie is at least as good ie equal or better) they would all sit on the bench for the likes of Song and Rocisky??????

Great article mate never read something more genius......

Anonymous said...

the author needs a couple of kicks on his back to come back to earth

Marko said...

Hmmm. Well there's not a lot of difference in terms of how both teams play football and they way they'll always play the game the way it's supposed to be played. Both play with attacking fullbacks and one holding midfielder and generally play with the majority of possession in their games also both can be caught out defensively. The major difference and it is huge is that we can't afford to spend a lot on players and can't spend our money unwisely, we can't take any real chances in the transfer market. While Barca can spend 20 odd million on a defender to sit on the bench (Chygrinski?) and don't even start me on the Ibrahimovic deal (the worst transfer ever). We have great players like Fabregas, Arshavin, Van Persie, Eduardo, Gallas, Clichy, Vermaelen, Nasri, Rosicky and Sagna we also have promising players like Wilshere and Vela. Barcelona have Messi, Xavi (just can't get the ball from this guy) Iniesta, Alves, Toure, Pique, Ibra, Henry, Abidal. One things for sure if we were to both play each other in europe it'd be a super game.

I Hate Dunphy said...

THE ETO IBRAHIAVIC DEAL WAS LIKE JACK COMING HOME WITH THE MAGIC BEANS.A SWAP WOULD HAVE UNDER VALUED ETO

Anonymous said...

have u seen yaya play for barca? I mean i am one of those gooners that actually rates song, but yaya is just on another level! Player 4 player we come short, but a maturing wengerball team against the blougrana is a cause 4 optimism!

Anonymous said...

ROTFPMSL

This is the biggest pile of shit I have EVER read but it's cracking me up! I don't know where to start so much balls being chatted it's fantastic! Someone said Cesc was Xavi's equal LOL is that why the Spain national team pick Xavi-Iniesta first dibs EVERY TIME? Or maybe they dunno what they are doing oh wait....don't they have a European cup?

LMAO

RVP as good as Zlatan? What's RVP won?
Barca have 4-5 players who would be in the top 5 for Euro and World Player Xavi, Messi, Iniesta, Eto'o now gone etc...

Ppl are sucking off Song? Aaaaah ha ha ha ha ha Song is shite I saw Dazza Fletcher shit on him at OT the other week cannot really see Yaya being bullied by Fletcher! LOL this is hilarious put it this way
Villa don't fear Arsenal and in fact Stoke don't fear Arsenal Arsenal are NEVER bookies' faves to win a thing. Wanna know why?

Anyway this is all rubbish let us use FACTS.
Let's just compare shall we?

Past 4 yrs Barca have....

2 European Cups
2 League titles
1 Spanish Cup
1 Treble + 1 Double
1 European Supercup
1 Spanish Supercup

Past 4 yrs Arsene's 'amazing' squad has.....

BUGGER ALL! Nothing! Zero zilch jack!

LOL when Pool and Chelsea go to Nou Camp they shit themselves in fact every team does Barca scored over 100 goals last season...we finish 4th and get beat by Stoke Hull and Villa! LOOOOOOOOOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

YOU ARE ON CRACK!

Nasri better than Iniesta LMFAO crying now

Anonymous said...

I have to say Frabregas' performance vs Blackburn was outstanding. The goal he set up for Walcott was the first time i've seen that since the great Pele set up Carlos Alberto in the 1970's world cup final.That, for me, is way above "world class" the way we use that term nowadays.No doubt Xavi and Iniesta are two of the most brilliant players in the world, not to mention Messi of course.But I think we can give them a real fight when the time comes. Who can say what the result will be? Not me. I'm looking forward to this fight for european glory, and with the likes of Rosicky and Arshavin in top form, I think we have a very good chance to go all the way.

Unknown said...

Good point with the squad. Our second XI would probably beat theirs (Nick, Theo and Vela in attack with Denilson, Ramsey and Rosicky in midfield). Our first XI is not as good though but their is no heaven and earth between the teams. Let's take it position for position as we play the same formation.

Our GK are both crap, very equal.

Alves didn't impress me last season but neither did Sagna. Alves is overrated, Sagna is a terrible crosser. Alves has the win though.

Have never seen Maxwell but Clichy has done some serious mistakes this season. Let say equal.

In CB we win easily. If we combine the squads Tommy would be the best and Billy the second best.

They have a slightly better midfield. Cesc and Xavi are as good, Yaya is better than the impressing Song and though I agree Iniesta is better than Nasri, the Frenchman is fantastic and was much better last season than Iniesta at the same age. So a win for Barca here.

Attack. Messi is better than Walcott, Eduardo or whatever we put on the right wing, no doubt. Ibra is better than RvP although only slightly while Arshavin is better than Henry. So a win for Barca here as well.

We win in defence, they win on other fronts. If we would combine the teams it would look something like this:
--------Szczesny---------
Alves--Gallas--Tommy--Clichy
----------Toure------------
-----Xavi----Cesc-----------
Messi------Ibra--Iniesta/Arshavin

The GK is not a joke, Szczesny is our best keeper and Valdez is an utter crap so the young Pole must be the best of the two squads. Barca are better, we can win them, our second XI would beat the hell our of their second XI.

Anonymous said...

this post is just pathetic.

i hope fans of other teams ain't reading this it's just shocking on every level!

look it's like this

take 10,000 non arsenal and non barca fans who know about and UNDERSTAND football. so i mean take fans from italy spain france germany and take 500 active pros too...

ask them who is the better team between arsenal and barca.

if you manage to find more than FIVE (out of 10,000 remember) who say arsenal have a better team or squad i will clean your house for the next 50 years every day and pay u £500 a week for it

embarrassing.

shows how deluded some arsenal fans have become and i am gooner and all.

p.s if u manage to find more than 5 people out of ten thousand who think nasri is a better player than iniesta

i also love the way some guys are saying vermaelen and puyol are 'equal'

until vermaelen had joined Arsenal none of you had even seen him play! and after 3 months or so in the prem he is already 'equal' to puyol! You sound like those deluded Liverpool fans! Puyol has been winning CLs and titles for years. If Vermaelen hadn't joined us none of you would even know he existed! Ah ha ha

question: how many CLs do we have?

ooooooooh

Anonymous said...

LOL LOL!

can someone please get some tablets for the deluded arsenal fans in the house please?

As soon as someone can tell me how many trophies these 'unbelievable world class' players have won then I'm ready to agree. Let's say hmmm...past 4 years?

LOL LOL LOL

You lot are on meth. Arsenal ain't even as good as Man United or Chelsea ffs. Let alone BARCA!

Someone even mentioned Brazil 1970s ffs! ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

For FUXAKE we only beat BLACKBURN ROVERS! The day we thrash Man United or Chelsea like that then maybe I'll agree...but wait a sec did Liverpool not thrash Hull 6-1 just last week? Does that make them EVEN better then! Ah I forgot I suppose Torres ain't as good as what we've got and as for Song he is way better than Gerrard!

aaaaah ha ha ha ha ha

BRILLIANT!

until we've WON SOMETHING i think you should all stop embarrassing Arsenal and stop giving our fans a bad name with such bullshite.

Barca can show CLs and the best player in the world

We can't even show a f***ing Carling Cup!

Man Utd came to the Emirates and crapped on us thrashed us 1-3 mofos AT HOME. They went to face Barca though who we are 'better than' LMAO and what happens? They shit on them 2-0! wakey wakey!

behave!

nn said...

we have won nothing. they are european champs. end off. we are a selling club so we will never match them. probably see cesc and arshavin in their team next season

Anonymous said...

jesus i see the doors to the asylum are open? whoever wrote this deserves to be shot

anyone agreeing with it also deserves to be publicly whipped
this is just plain ridiculous and embarassing!

Anonymous said...

what a effing load of dump. the rubbish some people post on the internet is horrendously funny to say the least.

magic32 said...

ANONYMOUS - YOU SHOULD REMAIN SO!
HOW MANY CL HAVE ARSENAL WON - HOW MANY TIMES HAVE BARCELONA GONE A COMPLETE SEASON UNBEATEN? THIS IS ALL IN THE PAST. AS I SAID LETS WAIT UNTIL THE END OF THE SEASON. YES- MAN UTD DID KNOCK US OUT OF THE CL LAST SEASON, BUT THEY WILL NOT DO IT AGAIN THIS YEAR. I WILL SAY IT AGAIN WE HAVE A BETTER SQUAD THAN BARCELONA!!!

Anonymous said...

This is brilliant!

simple one really this: if arsenal are as good or better than barca then why did henry feel he had to leave us to join them? d'ya think maybe it's cos like....he had a better chance of winning the CL? or maybe he got bored of winning everything at Arsenal eh? he he he.

They are European champs we are chumps

We are a selling club and they poach our best players. Overmars Petit Henry etc. Next season Fabregas will be playing there too just you watch...but hey why the hell would he leave Arsenal to join Barca does he not know IT'S A STEP DOWN!

ha ha ha love it! top comedy!

Ganesh said...

The writer is getting too much stick for his attempt at comparison although we are not far away from a side like Barcelona. I do admire Messi a lot, but I think Arshavin's passing range is superior to the Argentine. His pace and dribbling and his ambidextrous shooting are equal with Messi if not better. Eduardo may not be as good as Henry, but van Persie, much to my surprise this season, is a terrific target man and better than Ibrahimovic. Let's face it, how much did Barcelona have to shell out for Ibra? Eto'o and another 40 million? That's probably the value of the whole Arsenal side. Defensively, Toure is quite a handful but Song is not far behind. I'd still prefer someone like Flamini over Song, maybe that would bring us closer to Barcelona. Alves and Maxwell are good going forward, while Clichy and Sagna are decent at both attack and defense. I do however note the fact that Nasri is not as good as Iniesta and neither are Denilson or Diaby. Maybe Rosicky can fit the bill, but he still has to convince me with his creativity, incision and consistency. We aren't as good as Barcelona yet, let's get the chance to face them this year in the Champions League and probably we would know. I am confident that over two legs we would beat them.

Anonymous said...

LMFAO

jeez the internet really is full of fools and cretins

what did barca win last season?
Errrr...The TREBLE!

What did Arsenal win?
Errrr....nothing!

Where did Arsenal finish in the league? 4th!

End of discussion.

Arsenal 'went unbeaten'. Yeah. 5 years ago and coming up to 6.

Barca are the BEST TEAM IN EUROPE (they have the trophy to prove it)

Arsenal ain't even the best team in London! Muppets...

Anonymous said...

Even if Arsenal faced Barca and knocked them out we will never be considered or be a better team than them. They have 2 European cups and 2 league titles and a European supercup AND a world championship in the past 3 years alone and Arsenal have JACK SHIT!

How hard is it for idiots to get their heads round that? The ONLY people in the world stupid/deluded enough to think Arsenal are even anywhere NEAR Barca level are Arsenal fans.

NO ONE ELSE THINKS IT BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE IS AS RETARDED!!!

BARCA ARE FANTASY FOOTBALL AND ARSENAL ARE JUST FANTASISTS!

magic32 said...

YEAH - WE SOLD OVERMARS, PETIT & ANELKA. AND GUESS WHAT - 2 SEASONS LATER WE WENT THE COMPLETE SEASON UNBEATEN IN THE PREMIERSHIP. NO DOUBT WHEN WE SOLD OVERMARS AND PETIT YOU PROABABLY SAID WE WERE NO-HOPERS THEN!

Anonymous said...

If player by player Barcelona are better, why are they always after Arsenal players almost every season? Right now they are after Eboue and Cesc. And the talk of trophies is quite shallow. The writer is comparing the current sides and also the best eleven of the two sides. No Arshavin, no van Persie at Old Trafford in the Champions League last season. Makeshift backfour in the second leg. When Arshavin returned for the league game at Old Trafford, we dominated the match, signaling the difference in the two sides which played United in the space of a month. Plus, you are weakening Arsenal further by adding Adebayor to their side for both the legs. Just reading the title is not good enough for you to start making conclusions about the writer's mental state. But yes, a match between the two should set it right. Let's see who wins.

gazzap said...

its all very well picking a fantasy arsenal 11 but we all know that Denilson and Diaby are in our midfield every week. whereas at least the barca players you picked do actually play together.
If you start comparing the Diaby, song, Cesc midfield with the barca midfield, you start to see the gap.

I think their full backs are better attackers than ours as well. but otherwise I think we are pretty close to Barca in attack.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear it's retard hour.

Did you know that Hull are better than Brazil?

It's true you know...just ask the Hull fans!

Anonymous said...

Yeah winning trophies is shallow and irrelevant! We're Arsenal and we are too good for that! In fact we're sooo good we don't bother winning trophies!
Like someone else before me said.
Take 10,000 non-Arsenal fans and ask them who is a better team between Arsenal and Barca.

I guarantee you that no one who actually understands the first thing about football will claim Arsenal.

No debate here. Oh and the Invincibles was almost 6 years ago stop going on about one league title. How many European cups do we got then?

Barca want Arsenal players because they can poach them because they are a bigger and superior club simple.

None of the top Barca players ever go to Arsenal you idiot but all the top Arsenal players join Barca! Doh!

Unknown said...

Ganesh has by far the most mature answer. Of course there are deluded fans but it doesn't mean you can't say that Arsenal aren't that far behind Barcelona. They are not that amazing force. They won the Spanish league with no competition (Real and Valencia were handicapped) and only made the CL final because of a stupid referee cunt who couldn't handle the big stage (I did enjoy the look on Ballack's face though). They are very good, the second best team in Europe in my opinion. Chelsea will beat them and I think we could beat them 35 out of every 100 times. They are better than us but not much better. I would say Chelsea and Barca are the best teams this season, Real and United follow and we are the fifth best in Europe. City and Liverpool ain't near us, the other leagues don't compare, not even Inter or Bayern.

Look at the way this team is playing, we outplayed United at Old Trafford but lost because of two ridiculous mistakes of people that never should have played that game. Have you seen United when Giggs isn't having the best of games or isn't playing at all? Rooney who? It's all about Giggs, he is the reason they are this high up by now, he is the reason they aren't crying their eyes out because Ronaldo left.

Anonymous said...

I know it's not everyday a team scores six goals.I know the gunners one touch soccer can leave most teams struggling. But before being carried away by the gunners cavalier style, pause for a second.
What happens if a team throws a spanner into the works and frustrate the gunners. Then what? It can happen.
I'm afraid AW 's philosophy while getting a lot of praise,can be derailed if he doesn't pay attention to the defence.It happened in the past and can happen again.
I'm not a wet blanket but if the the gunners keep banging in the goals,but can't win matches/trophies then the fans may turn against AW.

magic32 said...

ARSENAL LINE-UP WHEN EVERYONE IS FIT:

Szczesny or Fabianski
SAGNA GALLAS VERMALLEN CLICHY

NASRI CESC SONG

ROSICKY RVP ARSHAVIN

SUBS(IN THIS ORDER) - EDUARDO, BEDTNER,DENNILSON,EBOUE,VELA DIABY,WILSHIRE,RAMSEY,WALCOTT,GIBBS,GKs

NOW YOU TELL ME WHAT TEAM IN THE LAND HAS A BETTER SQUAD THAN THIS!!!!

Anonymous said...

this post is a bit too optimistic.. we are still some way to go to reach barca's standard.

but just wanted to say how last season when barca were resting some of their first teamers (but still had eto'o,toure and alves in their team) at the tail end of last season, they didnt win a single game for like 5-6 games. Yes, they did have the title wrapped up already but just to show that without key players they struggle as well. Those 'second stringers were playing their hearts out yet the lost most of it.

and in all honesty, Chelsea should have been in the cl finals if not for HORRENDOUS and despicable refereeing. Barca could only passed sideways and backwards. Chelsea's defense had Messi in their pockets and they were reduced to shooting outside the 18yard box. ONLY ONE great strike from iniesta pull them through. It was something like one shot on target, one goal.

And la liga do not have those defensive and overly physical teams like chelsea/stoke/bolton week in week out. Remember how Pep was whining about how chelsea were not playing football the right way and were too rough? Try that every week in the epl then. Still not taking away anything from how great their 1st XI is and a treble is by no means an easy feat.

Anonymous said...

"But we have Arshavin who in my opinion can match Messi’s brilliance."

LOL! I stop reading after this.

KLAUS, BERGEN, NORWAY said...

I don't care how many stupid coments here. I only recognize the best football EVER played by an english team. Only the best players of the best vintage Brazil can play like that. With PELE, ZICO, SOCRATES, GARRINCHA, DIDI, VAVA, ROMARIO, RONALDO, RONALDINHO, JUNIOR, FALCAO, RIVELINO, etc. We have the same right here, right now. So stop whining and just enjoy.I don't care how many titles we win or loose. This is football the way it is supposed to be played. I'm just glad to be alive to see it and taste it :-)

Anonymous said...

Shows you the importance of trophies.

"that have never won anything are as good as players that have won the lot!"
Bollocks. Barca were lucky last year, they're barely top 4 premiership material. Chelsea ridiculed them over 2 legs and would have gone through if it wasn't for shitty refereeing.

Henry's past it, Ibra has yet to score against any top team, their defense is poor and their GK atrocious. They have 3 outstanding players (Messi, Xavi and Iniesta) and without them they would be average.

Many are right to comment anonymously they're likely to eat their words when the "dream team" will be exposed.

Anonymous said...

cant write im laughin to much

NickTHeGooner said...

why are you all slating this guy so much? barca are a very good team yes but put them in the premiership they would struggle no question about it. i watched alot of barca games last season and this and they struggle whenever they are put under big pressure all over the pitch (which pretty much every prem team does to arsenal, but we still humiliate most of them). i wouldnt be suprised if the likes of bolton and blackburn bullied them into losing like they used to us. the spanish league is a very poor league indeed. look at sevilla and at. madrid they are 2 of the strongest in the spanish league but i bet 3 quarters of prem teams would beat them.

big deal they beat man utd in the CL final but they by no means out played them, we outplay them pretty much every time we play against them only the refs win the games for them.

i completely agree with this post.

Unknown said...

please someone tell me this post was a joke. Ssgna is not a bad player, but Alves is far far better. Van persie nowhere near as good as Zlatan, Arshavin is an amazing player and like Messi is one of the best in the world, but Messi, very obviously has an upper hand on him, while Rosicky isn't nearly as good as Xavi or Iniesta. Our central defense in comparable, with Vermaulen proving to be better than Pique or Maques but Puyol is still a better defender than Gallas. On the right I agree that Cliche (and possibly even Gibbs) are top quality and I prefer them to Barca's left back.
I agree that we have more depth, but our starting 11 are nowhere near as good...YET. When we start winning titles we can do some real comparisons...

Anonymous said...

WTF is going on in here??????

First of all, the guy who wrote this shit should be shot and the people who let him post it should be shot as well.

1 point, u seem to mention u ur rubbish article is that Arsenals bench strengh is btter than Barcas bench strength, and wat u show as the reason for that? the talented youngster that we posses(Vela, Walcott, Rosicky, Gibbs, djourou, Senderos etc.).. Did u even give a freaking second before u wrote this to think that if Arsenals youngsters are that good then how good will Barca's youngsters(whom you didn't even mention in the article) be?? Do u even know why Barcelona are widely regarded all around the world for having the best youth academy in the world?? do you even know why Wengers always tries to steal younsgters from their academy??(Cesc, Merida, Miquel and hes still trying to get many from them)... Its an embarrasing article really. Just because you don't know anyone from their academy and just because you only know Vela or Song or gibbs and just because our english media hypes them so much dosen't mean we have better strength, their youngsters who are still playing for their academy reserves are most probably already better than our youngsters who already make the first team bench in out squad but they just haven't yet got their chance to shine like our youngsters did and they didn't get a chance like Wenger gave to our youngsters, but that dosen't make our players better. They don't depend on their highly talented youngsters at such a young age because they actually want to win trophies and they know with youngsters u need time and will only incorporate them slowly into the first team unlike us. If you have been following football long enough you would atleast understand even 1 bit of what i was trying to say.

Oh btw,
Song as good as Toure????????
Nasri/Rosicky as good as Iniesta???????
Cesc as good as Xavi??
Van Persie as good Ibra???????
Arshavin as brilliant as Messi??????
Sagna better than Alves?????????

OMFGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!


Dude FFS please stop this shit, its embarrasing. If not for ur sake then atleast for not spoiling the reputation of other sensible gunners. I really really hope other club fans don't read this shit, its just embarrasing.

Anonymous said...

^^
Take Rosicky off from that list of talented youngster it was a mistake and add Fabiansy and Bendtner to that...

Anonymous said...

Barca would struggle against any team in PL? What a joke.

Who struggled in the CL final in May? Was it the PL team or Barcelona? Arsenal has one top player, Cesc. Without him they're average. Barcelona on top form would play Arsenal off the park.

Anonymous said...

What a joke

The biggest joke is the fact you clearly don't even watch Barcelona because that isn't their first team defence.

Their first team is:
Valdez
Alvez Chygrynski Milito Maxwell
Xavi Toure Iniesta
Messi Ibrahimivic Henry

First of all let's stop the crap Valdez is a decent keeper, at the very least better than anything we have. All this crap about Szcolney is pathetic. Secondly our full backs aren't as good as Barce's. Maxwell and Alvez are both better than Sagna and Clichy. Their center backs are better than ours as well. Only Vermaelen would challenge to get into a combined team. In midfield the claim that Song is "nearly as good as Toure and will soon be better" sounds like you are on crack! Do you even watch football?! Xavi and Iniesta are streets ahead of Nasri, and their partnership is on a different level to Cesc and Nasri's. Up front is the only place I think we match them. For me our strongest one would be Rosicky RVP Arshavin. Or RVP Bendnter Arshavin. Only thing we lack in the strongest one is a hold up man. That's why Barcelona have the edge because Ibrahimovic can offer another option.

Strongest combined team:
Valdez
Alvez Chygrynski Vermaelen Maxwell
Fabregas Toure Iniesta
Messi RVP Arshavin

Barcelona 7
Arsenal 4

Dee said...

lol, the post above is full of irony : "You don't even watch Barca".

Milito hasn't played football in at least a year and doesn't start. Chygrynski is backup to Pique (who was their best CB last season) and Puyol and Maxwell is backup to Abidal. He's not done well in being Abidal's backup lately either, so how he can be better than Clichy is beyond me.

The main piece is wild though. I don't see Barca as the benchmark because we don't have to be as good as them to win trophies this season. Luck and keeping your players fit (Barca were able to do both last season) is by far the most important factors over the course of the season and if we do that, we'll win at least one of the 2 major trophies, I'm certain.

Dee said...

*are by far

Anonymous said...

Guys,it's only Blackburn. And they should have scored at least 2 more goals. Our defensive play is shocking. 4 years since Paddy Vieira left and we are still crap in defense. We still need a quality gk, a cd, and a quality cdm. Just do not start with this whole Barca thing. We haven't won a trophy since 2005. We will see how we will cope against Cheslea and Liverpool at Anfield. We can't even beat United at Old Trafford even though they have lost Ronaldo. And we have lost against City. We are now 2 players team( Arshavin and Fabregas) and our defensive play is SHOCKING. We have conceided to many goals. Without quality gk, cd, and a cm, we will finish this season empty handed AGAIN!!!!!

akis paoros said...

oh m god i really dont think u should ever write an article again u are a complete clueless twat just like the rest of our deluded fans. we only have better cbacks but thats it. have u ever seen ibrahimovic play? what about iniesta and xavi? as 4 song he dont even compare 2 yaya 4 f sake. the only players who would get in barca,s side is clichy thats cos abidal is awful and 1 of gallas or vermaelen. 2 b honest i like sagna as well who is a much better defender than alves but not as good as attacking as alves, and how the hell say that arshavin and messi are in the same class, messi and ronaldo stand alone with kaka just behind them. this article gives other fans ammo 2 take the piss 4fs

Anonymous said...

what's funnier is how come there are so many english speaking barcelona fans.. Glory hunters!!

akis poaros said...

u silly muppet im an english cypriot who has lived in england 4 32 years and has had a season ticket 4 the last 12 years

Anonymous said...

Seriously your getting carried away comparing arsenal to barca. Yaya Toure vs Song, give me a break,fabregas is the only player we have that can get into their team and maybe Vermaelen, Henry is still better then Arshavin mates...Fix up u hype readers

Anonymous said...

most of the people commenting here suffer from an inferiority complex. YES, THE ARSENAL FIRST 1O IS VERY GOOD AND CAN MARCH ANY TEAM IN THE WORLD. the only problem is the goal keeper and injuries. is it any wonder then that barcelona is so fond of buying arsenal players?

Anonymous said...

if we were as good as barca we would win things for a start

Anonymous said...

I would say that man for man, Barcelona's entire back five is clearly better than Arsenal's.

In midfield, Fabregas is probably as good as Xavi.

Up front, Eduardo has the potential to be as good as any of them, but not right now. Henry and Ibrahimovic are way more prolific than Van Persie, but Van Persie is still quality. Arshavin is quality, but I doubt Barcelona would swap him for any of their three.

1 or 2 Arsenal players would get in the Barcelona side, but that's it. Why you are writing this article at all is baffling; sounds like you are getting completely carried away because Arsenal thrashed a team with no full backs on Saturday.

You would better off not embarrassing yourself and waiting until Arsenal win something before posting your drivel.

Anonymous said...

Seeing that it was only the other weekend that we struggled to beat Fulham 1-0 . Thanks to our young goalkeeper. And that we have been beaten by the only two decent sides we have played so far this season. This disproving the claims that the side has learnt from past mistakes. It seems that you are rather over optimistic in this article in arriving at your silly conclusions . Let's wait and see if we can manage to beat a Premiership side for the first time EVER in the Champions League before claiming Barcelona's crown.
Wenger has come up with a pale imitation of Pep's tactics that is beating Premiership dross , although a bit of good fortune was required against Fulham. Also giving top sides a goal start might not prove to be so clever either. Wenger drinks water and can kick bottles of it ,but he can't walk on water. Get real.

Anonymous said...

before comparing the teams, check this out barca play in la liga not the premiership where teams like stoke, bolton, hull, e.t.c would boot players like messi for 90 minutes non-stop. ever wonder why arsenal always have injury problems? well that's b.cos teams like the aforementioned won't give them a rest plus referees call very few fouls in the premiership

Anonymous said...

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! i cnt stop laughing!
The only arsenal players that can play a part in the GREAT barcas team are Fabregas and Arshavin! Fabregas who is a product of BARCA youth system and arshavin who was crying for barcelona to sign him.
I really like arsenal and love watching them play but to say that they are near barcas level is insane!
Iniesta and xavi are the best central midfielders in the world by faaaaaar! I do not see any1 as good as toure as a defensive midfielder in the world!
Ibra won three Serie-A titals literally by himself for inter.
Henry is still amazing but dsnt look as good as he plays with players who r better than him, which was not the case wen he was at arsenal.
and MESSI is on a different planet to any1 else in the world!and will be one of the all time greats,if not the greatest.
and dani alves is better than sagna, puyol is better than varmaelen and gallas! and clichy is gd but having a terrible season so far and abidal is having an amazing season and plays ahead of clichy and EVRA in the french squad!

you gunner fans r illusioned!

barca stand alone! noone comes alone!

Omy said...

Jajajajajajajjajajajajjajajajajajajajajajajjajajajajajjajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajaja, not seriously, jajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajaja.
Now for real:
Next Ballon de ore
1. Messi
2 y 3. Xavi, Iniesta or C. Ronaldo and ...... (Kaka, Gerard, Torres, or other)

To even compare three of the top 5 player in the world with Fabregas, who sits behind Xavi and Iniesta in the Spanish side, not to mention Nasri and Arsahvin who is very decent I must admit, with Messi who is the best in the world and call them in the same class, well mate, you are just fucking studip.

Anonymous said...

THE AUTHOR OF THIS POST IS LIVING IN CLOUD CUCKOO LAND!

IT'S THIS UNREALISTIC ATTITUDE THAT GIVES GOONERS A BAD NAME.

SONG IS STRONG AND IMPROVING BUT EVEN COMPARING HIM TO YAYA TOURE IN ATTACK AND DEFENCE SHOWS YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.

TIME TO LEAVE THE MATRIX AND ENTER THE REAL WORLD

Anonymous said...

This is the ABSOLUTE WORST article posted on this site, and that is saying something. This author guy must be new. Just stick to a few posts per month please.
BTW our fullbacks are clearly inferior to barcas' even though Alvez doesn't really do much defending. And Nasri has been elevated to demigod status in his absence, good but better than or = iniesta............nonsense

Anonymous said...

Lol even Arshavin said that he would like to be like Messi. He admired that Messi is the best. Arshavin is good player but he never can score 38 goals+18 assists

Anonymous said...

Rosicky should be in the first XI not Nasri. Experienced, better movement, plays 1-touch football better, and plays better with Cesc.

Anonymous said...

RVP v Ibrahimovic = ibra
Arshavin v henry = equal
messi v eduardo =messi
xavi v cesc = xavi
song vs toure = toure
nasri v iniesta = iniesta
sagna v alves = alves waaay better
puyol v vermaelen = puyol for gods sake
gallas vs pique = equal
clichy v abidal (cause maxwell isnt the starter for that position) = abidal
valdes v almunia = valdes

So stop writing a bunch of crap.
Arsenal is a long way from reaching barcelona

Anonymous said...

terrible ... just terrible. you haven't a clue why your team is so inferior, hence why you've won ZILCH in the last few years.

sergio said...

LOT OF STUPID COMMENTS HERE:

Alves "can't get into Brazil's first 11" -- huh??? As a Brazilian who watches my national team all the time, that's news to me...not to mention Dunga! Alves is very much a part of Dunga's team. He's got two world class RBs in Alves and Maicon so he switches between them in different games. Occasionally he's even used them both with Alves as an LB. Sagna better than Alves?? Nasri better than Iniesta?? Oh please, get a freaking clue people!! And I love that thoroughly hilarious, ignorant comment from Ole Gunner about Barca not having any depth!! Obviously he knows nothing about the talent on Barca's bench, just because he doesn't know most of Barca's players outside the first 11.

Idiotic article! Barca beat us in the CL final because they were better than us, period. They'd beat us today even if we had all our players fit, period. Get f-----g real! And yes, I'm a gooner who knows La Liga very well unlike the idiots posting on this blog.

Karthik said...

Well I have to say that im a little shocked by looking at this Post. Of all the teams in the world we cules respect arsenal and ajax for maintaining their good football along with barcelona even in the most dire situation without trophies. But is this the respect gunners show to barca. Shame!

Well i saw someone saying vermalean and puyol as equal here. Well lets not get into player comparisons since that will lead us to nowhere. Your team has great crop of young players who can accomplish great deal under wenger. Be happy for that and don compare our football with yours. We push for a goal with 10 men and its quite different with defenders holding the ball and passing or lobbin for mids(although beautiful to watch). I hope we both meet each other in the champions league. all the best for the current season. Visca Barca e visca catalunya

Anonymous said...

Not a very serious article since it ignores some differences between the teams, especially that Barcelona has reached its peak whereas Arsenal is just beginning to do so. The major differences are:

Ibra is a more complete forward than van Persie, better target player, in the air and generally to dominate the opponents defenders. Wenger could do to buy Dzeko or Chamakh to increase competition in the striker role and maybe try van persie as a winger.

Sagna is never going to be dani alves in offense, that comparison is very strange. But Arsenal doesn't depend on that since we have so many offensive players over-all.

Yaya Touré: of course a better player than Song and Barca also has better cover in Busquets, Keita and Rafa Marquez. We need cover and competition for this position and I'd like a buy in January to feel safe.

Offensively other than center forward I do feel we are as good as Barca this year and I think we can win both PL and CL if we don't get injuries on crucial players. But we're not Barca yet...

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmmmmm author has gone bonkers.. :P


Valdes > Alumnia
Bakri Sagna < Alves(how dare u compare them)
Maxwell > Clichy(have you seen Clichy play)
Puyol > Gallas(any day)
Vermaelen = Pique
Toure >>>>>>>>>>>>> Song
Iniesta > Nasri
Xavi < Fabregas
Henry >>>>>>>>>>>> Eduardo
Messi >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> any player on this planet
Ibra > Van Persie(go see Barca matches)

Anonymous said...

Everyone may give a lot of opinion that arsenal as good as barca, then so stupid if barca was compared to arsenal with obtaining their trophies in the last four years. remember, a strong team can also be defeated with any team.

Siso said...

I'm a Barça fan. I think Arsenal has one of the best teams in the world and would be very tough to face them. But this article is just too much biased. In my opinion only Arshavin, Clichy and Cesc could be starters at Barça...

Anonymous said...

yeah i figured out,the author is a crack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

arsenal is a baby club of Barca.

Every one knows that

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Anonymous said...

i am no fan of both the clubs but what u wrote is absolute shite
in my opinion
RVP v Ibrahimovic =equal
Arshavin v henry = equal
messi v eduardo =messi eduardo nowhere near to him
xavi v cesc = equal
song vs toure = toure
nasri v iniesta = iniesta
sagna v alves = alves lott better than sagna
puyol v gallas =puyol
vermalaen vs pique = equal
clichy v abidal =abidal
valdes v almunia = valdes lot better

Anonymous said...

What a chut r u ...

r u insane

y do u even compare toure and song

may be cesc is equal to xavi, but wat fart is nasri being equal to iniesta,dont even compare messi with any1 of them

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